Fire
by Lover's-Lament
Summary: Sequel to One Mistake Five years have gone by since Alicia last saw Riddick. She's never lost the sting of him abandoning her, though. Now that her world is coming to an end, can she and Riddick work together again?
1. Chapter 1

Fire

**What's this? A sequel? Heavens to Betsy! Yes, that's right, I'm finally getting my creative juices flowing for my sequel and this is the first chapter. Oh and the title is a work in progress. To give you an idea how long it took to get my ideas down properly, I created this at the end of March and it is now the end of April and I'm finally finishing the first chapter. ONLY the first chapter. It's going to be a long road, ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the ride.**

Title: Fire  
Author: Me!  
Disclaimer: I do not own Vin Diesel or Riddick or any of the characters or storylines that go along with it. I don't know who does…whoever the production studio is. I do own my character, Alicia, as well as whatever twists I decide to put on the original storyline. Thank you!  
Rating: R for language and maybe more.

It was dark…and quiet. Pitch black, as it were. Where was the hall light, which normally was left on at all hours? She pushed herself out of bed to go and turn it on, knowing she would not be able to fall back asleep without it. When she swung her feet out of bed, however, they felt bare rock under her toes rather than the plush carpet of her bedroom. Just as she registered this, from somewhere close to her right she heard the unholy screech of an undead soul. Reacting faster than she even knew she could, she dropped to the ground, bracing herself as she expected hard rock against her hands. What she found instead was soft green carpeting, ragged from many repeats of this situation. When she raised her eyes, she found that the hall light was on again, as it presumably had been all night, and she was safe in her own room, despite the wild beating of her heart that betrayed her fear. Letting out her breath slowly, she carefully stood up, rubbing her hand across her face, looking instinctively towards the corner. Maybe tonight he was there. But no…there was no glimmer of glowing eyes, and no sound besides the sound of her breathing. No, he was not there tonight…and he wouldn't be there any night, not now, not ever. Shaking her head at her own foolishness, she padded down the hall to the bathroom, turning on the tap to splash some water on her face.

Five years. Five fucking long years. Five years where every night she found herself waking in the middle of the night and turning over, hoping to see his familiar eyes in the night. One thousand eight hundred and twenty-five nights give or take a few. Alicia Terries lifted her head from the tap, rivulets of water dripping down her neck as she looked at her reflection in the mirror, brushing back a strand of her black hair. The face that stared back at her did not, at first glance, seem much different than the one which had first laid on eyes on Riddick. There were perhaps a few deeper lines under her eyes now, and there was a very small scar on her forehead, but it was generally the same face that smiled out from old pictures. Then you looked at her eyes, and you felt like you were looking at a completely different person. Her vibrant sea-green eyes were hard now, not soft like they once were, and there was a certain aura about her...a constant alertness. She had seen things that life had not prepared her for, and she had come through it all, alive and still moving.

She was alone now. She'd lived with Jack and Imam for a year or so, until it seemed to be common knowledge throughout the system that she was dead. She had died on a planet with three suns and a month-long night. Then she'd found a place of her own, and, as tempting as it was to go out through the system, she'd stayed put on Hellion Prime, getting a job, finding a new life for herself. The one thing that was missing, the thing that Imam often nagged at her about, was a husband. It wasn't as if she'd been barren for the past five years, she'd had boyfriends and she'd had lovers…but just as they were getting close, she'd find herself pushing away, as long-ago memories would return to haunt her.

Yawning, she dried off her face and returned to her room. She stood at the window, pushing aside the curtain and peering out at the dark streets, illuminated here and there by one of the two or three moons that rose above this planet periodically. In the dark, a younger man, fresh from the taverns, was stumbling homeward, and a dog came out briefly to bark at him before getting bored and returning to its guard post. As late as it was, she could see many windows illuminated softly by light, couples sitting together with hands clasped, worried looks being exchanged across tables. The whole street was just slightly lit by the light of the comet that streaked across the sky, seeming to grow larger every time she looked at it. It was an unusual comet and not one that anyone could claim to have seen before. Almost immediately, the whispers had begun, talk of 'world-enders' being preceded by comets. People had tried to leave the planet, and those who couldn't had arranged spots for themselves in shelters.

Imam had tried to convince Alicia to come back and live with them until they could be sure there was no danger, so that they would all be together in the shelter. Although Alicia had been moved by the gesture, she had graciously declined, saying that she would rather fend for herself. She had worked five long years to become independent, and she would be damned if she would let a bunch of superstitious fools take that away from her now.

Letting her thoughts wander, Alicia looked out into the dark street, not seeing her neighborhood but a completely different street, from years ago. A street almost as dark as the one before her, but with one crucial difference: Richard B. Riddick wasn't staggering down this one.

It had been almost six years ago, maybe more, that she had run out into the night to help a stranger staggering down her street, bleeding from a bullet wound to his stomach. Six years ago and she still thought about it…wondered how things might be different if she had done the logical thing and gone back inside, locking her door behind her. She hadn't, however, and there was no turning back to change the consequences of her actions. There were days when she thanked God that she had made that decision, for if she hadn't, she might not have ever met the people who had changed her life the most. There were days she cursed the decision, whenever she had to walk past a merc who happened to be taking a break in her city. It didn't happen too often, but whenever it did, she had to remind herself to keep walking normally and not to allow the instinct to hide to take over. She hadn't been caught yet.

Turning from the window, she sat down on her bed, looking down at the floor for a long moment, trying to figure out if she would sleep tonight. After only a moment, it was clear that she was not going to, at least not yet. Her heart was still beating furiously in her chest, her nerves still on edge from the residual effects of her own fertile imagination. Sighing, she stood up and picked up her blue-green robe from the floor, wrapping it around herself as she wandered downstairs to her kitchen, pouring herself a glass of water. Sipping it carefully, she leaned against her counter, looking around silently.

Then the world ended.

Or at least that's how it felt, as suddenly the entire ground shook, sending her sprawling, the glass flying from her hand to smash on the floor. It was as if God himself were blowing fiercely at her, as she felt a terrible wind push at her from the window, which smashed in, letting in dust and debris that flew lethally from all angles. Covering her head instinctively, Alicia waited for it to be over, which it was in only a few moments. Then she stood up, wary of the glass shards that littered the floor around her, shaking uncontrollably as she looked out her smashed window at the chaos that was before her. All she could hear or see were the land guns firing blindly up in the air, and fighter planes taking off at an enemy that was attacking from all angles. The entire city had fallen into darkness save for the flickering light of fire in the distance. Imam's world-enders had indeed arrived.

Regaining her hearing as well as her senses, she moved quickly, rushing up the stairs, gripping the stair railing tightly as the ground shook periodically. The explosions and gunfire seemed to be moving closer and closer to her home with every step as she rushed through the process of getting dressed. Her dresser had fallen forward, spilling its contents all over her bedroom floor. It revealed a very old friend; her pistol, which lay on the floor by the window. Pulling it from the floor and hooking it on to her pants, Alicia moved as quickly as she dared, exiting her home out on to the street, only to find more chaos.

The streets were filled with people shouting and crying, all trying to escape a danger they knew nothing about. As she pushed her way through the throng, considerably faster than most as she had only herself to worry about, she found that entire buildings were collapsed, with their occupants strewn into the road, gazing lifelessly upwards at those that passed them by without another thought. Alicia knew that her best hope was to find Imam and his family, and hope that they were able to get her into a shelter. And if she couldn't find Imam than she would just have to find somewhere to hide and wait it out. With that thought in mind, she tried to ignore the dead that were staring up at her accusingly.

As she got closer and closer to where Imam and his family lived, she found that it was getting more and more difficult to push against the mob, all of them struggling to get to a shelter somewhere. The ground shook once more, knocking her off-balance. Before she had a chance to regain her footing, some panicked city-dweller smashed into her, knocking her to the ground. Rolling over, she pushed with her arms to stand back up, only to have somebody step on her back, and then dozens of feet were pressing against her, pushing her against the ground. Trying desperately to take in enough air to yell for help, she was terrified for her life. She was suffocating with thousands of people around her and nobody would help her. Screaming in her head, she felt her lungs aching for air, her body being crushed beneath the weight of hundreds of people who were too busy watching their own backs to even notice her.

Just as terror was beginning to set in, she felt somebody grab the back of her shirt and yank her to her feet roughly before pulling her out of the way of the mob and into a dark alleyway. Coughing violently, she brushed herself off and looked up to thank her savior. Her words of thanks lost themselves in the passageway between her mind and her tongue as she looked in sheer dumbstruck confusion at who looked down at her from across the alleyway. Wearing a long cape that blew around him like the vision of an ancient hero, he looked heroic as he scanned the alleyway around him. Goggles reflected her shocked face back at her as she finally found some words.

"Riddick?" She whispered, unable to believe that he was really standing in front of her after all these years. About a million different questions ran through her head, but only one made it all the way to her mouth, and she regretted the question almost as soon as she said it. "What took you so long?"

He glanced at her with a raised eyebrow, lifting his goggles to reveal the silver eyes that never failed to take her breath away. He gave her a quick once-over, checking for injuries that might have been hidden in the shadows that his goggles created, then looked her straight in the eye. His gaze seemed to penetrate her so deeply that it was as if she were naked in front of him.

"I've been busy." He said finally before pulling his goggles back on, taking her arm and pulling her through the dark as quickly and steadfastly as if it were light as day. She, however, was not quite as lucky as to have built in night vision, so she tripped and stumbled more often than she walked clearly. She let him pull her without question, trusting without hesitation where others would have pulled back in fear. This, however, was more secure than being alone…this was the familiar, if somewhat mysterious. Above her head, the sky was frequently lit up by the blinding light of gun fire and explosions that continued to rock the ground and send debris falling around her, miraculously leaving her unharmed. The city was falling, the as yet unknown enemy prevailing against the peaceful city's weak defenses.

They were getting closer and closer to the main impact point, the point where entire blocks had been blown apart, leaving only bits of their stone foundation and perhaps an unsteady wall here and there. The stronger buildings had remained intact, with windows blown apart and doors splintered to bits. The dead and dying littering the streets, people crying for help that would not come. Alicia's heart ached to stop and to offer what aid she could, but Riddick's pace did not slow, and she obediently followed behind him. Suddenly Riddick stopped, looking up towards the sky, pulling off his goggles again to see more clearly whatever it is he was seeing. She followed his gaze and gasped.

Rising hundreds of thousands of feet above her was…a tower. A tower that was topped with a hideous stone face, glaring down at the city below it as if it were a bug that it meant to crush. Even without night-vision goggles, she could see the hundreds of foreign fighter planes detaching themselves before flying off into the dark to confront what was left of Helion Prime's defenses. The city was doomed. It had been doomed from the moment the comet had appeared, but they had no way of knowing that.

"The world is coming to an end." Riddick said suddenly, as if this were his cryptic way of saying he knew more than Alicia did, and she looked at him, then looked up at the tower again. She shrugged absently, swallowing.

"It had to end sometime." She said quietly, eliciting a startled look from Riddick. He looked at her silently for a moment before grabbing her arm and pulling her along again, this time away from the tower, towards where it was quiet. Here the fighting had mostly stopped, leaving only abandoned residential homes, and the odd disorganized fighting troop trying to mobilize against the enemy which had now become land-based.

Suddenly Riddick stopped, looking around as if he could sense something that she could not. They were now in the remains of a courtyard, silent except for quiet voices she could hear ahead. Only a few, no more than two or three people and they sounded afraid. Riddick pulled her towards the corner, pushing her against the wall before standing at the edge, looking around the corner in silence. The voice grew closer, almost upon them, and suddenly she recognized it as being familiar.

"Imam!" She whispered joyfully, starting to walk out to greet him but didn't get more than half a step before she was pulled violently and pushed painfully back against the wall with a warning look from Riddick. Wincing as she fingered her bruised back, she frowned in confusion. Before she could voice any questions, however, there were gunshots echoing around her. Before she could even cry out, Riddick had reached out and pulled a very startled-looking Imam into the alcove to stand next to her. He looked at Riddick as if he were the very last person he was expecting to see (which was probably quite true), before turning to see her.

With a relieved look to see her alive and unharmed, he pulled her into a brief embrace, before pulling away and watching Riddick. The guns were still firing around the corner, and she managed to catch sight of many unfamiliar warriors falling. Perhaps then, the tide had turned and Helion was managing to pull together an effective resistance. Imam suddenly pulled away, whispering that he must get to his family, which were obviously hidden on the other side of the alley. Much as he had done to her, Riddick held Imam back.

"When it's over…," Riddick said mysteriously, continuing to look out into the alley.

"Let me go, I must get to my family!" Imam protested angrily, but Riddick fixed him with a warning look.

"When it's over!" He said forcefully, which quieted Imam considerably.

Suddenly from out in the alleyway there was a loud explosion, knocking debris into the courtyard they were standing in. Covering her face as the aftershock whisked her hair around her face, she could hear hundreds of feet marching away in perfect unison. It wasn't until the feet had almost faded away that she felt Riddick release his hold on Imam. He looked at Imam, then walked out, allowing Imam to run to his family, holding them close. Alicia was still full of questions for Riddick that she wanted answers to. Where had he been for so long? What had he been doing? Why had he come back? But they were all questions that had to wait for a better moment…a less chaotic time. She tried to ignore all the dead soldiers around the 'blast site', gulping back the bile that rose in her throat instinctively. This was no time for a weak stomach.

As they watched Imam check his family over, Riddick stood behind Alicia for a moment, and she could hear and feel him smelling her hair. She couldn't imagine that she smelled good, her hair was full of dirt and debris and other people's feet. For some reason, the act of him smelling her hair seemed completely normal at this point. The moment lasted for no more than a moment before Riddick pulled away, announcing that they were moving.

Before she could fully comprehend what was going on, they were all running through extremely narrow alleyways, with Riddick leading them all. Light had been restored somewhere, enough that they were able to run without tripping and falling. Imam and his family ran before her, and she came at the back, looking behind her frequently to ensure that they were not being followed. She couldn't remember there ever being an agreement that Riddick would lead them to safety, but it appeared to be the case at the moment.

Lajjun and Ziza both appeared to be terrified, Ziza especially. Lajjun seemed unsure whether to trust this unknown man, but seemed willing to trust her husband's judgement. Besides, Alicia knew that she had heard the stories…of Riddick who had saved her husband from monsters. Ziza had told Alicia the stories many times, unaware that Alicia had lived through those stories herself. Alicia didn't know if Ziza really believed the stories, or if she considered them just a bedtime story. Something akin to Santa Claus that would be rendered unreal as time went on. The young girl now held on to her mother for dear life, not knowing for sure what was going on, but knowing that it was dangerous.

Without warning, Riddick stopped, examining the alley beyond. He motioned impatiently for them to back away and hide. Imam and his family retreated to an alcove, but before she moved, Riddick was pulling her impatiently back to the other side of the alley, into another alcove. He pushed her to the wall before standing in front of her, his arms on either side, shielding her with his cape. For the first time in the entire night, Alicia began to understand just how dangerous of a situation they had found themselves in. This army, whoever they may be, had no mercy, no code of ethics. They killed equally; civilian or military; women and children. There was no hope but to follow Riddick's lead and hide. Shaking uncontrollably, she instinctively hid her face into Riddick's back, grasping the cape tightly with her hands. It was an unspoken signal of 'please don't leave me alone', and she felt him tense and glance back at her, perhaps smelling more than seeing the fear in her face.

She pulled her face away, looking out into the alleyway in silence, but did not release her hold on Riddick. He was not going to leave her alone. Not again. She was brought back to reality by the bizarre creaking and screeching sounds followed by gunfire. Looking out carefully, she caught sight of a very small creature with a lens over its eyes, turning this way and that. The soldier who marched behind it controlled it. It was obviously trained to seek out signs of life so that its controller could eliminate it. She watched the group find and kill two soldiers before Riddick pushed her back into the corner. He pushed back against her, trying to hide her from sight, increasing his chance of being seen.

She could not see what happened next, only hear Imam cry out followed by the sounds of running footsteps. A few seconds of silence passed, followed by the creaking sound again. One of the creatures had remained. Imam's plan of diverting the soldiers from his family, had that indeed been his plan, was in grave danger of failing. Suddenly Riddick slipped out from the alcove, pushing her back so that she would remain hidden before slinking towards the controller and the lenser. She heard the harsh creaking of the lenser followed by the loud snap of its neck. She slid her head out carefully, seeing only Riddick. He was staring down at the lenser and it's controller, both dead at his feet. Beyond him she saw Lajjun and Ziza, both pushed against the corner, terrified. Imam had disappeared.

"Stay here." It was not a request or even a suggestion. It was a command. Before she could open her mouth to try fruitlessly to protest, Riddick had disappeared into the night. She wanted to follow him, but she had suddenly found herself responsible for two very scared people, who were turning to her for guidance, seeing as she was the only one left. Smiling weakly at them, she ushered them in the direction they had been going.

"Come on…Riddick and Imam will catch up with us…I know the way." She was not at all sure of any of the statements she had made, but it seemed to make Lajjun and Ziza feel better. It wasn't long at all before she found herself hopelessly lost. Deciding that going nowhere was better than being sitting ducks, she pressed on, turning corners at random, moving in a generally west direction, if she was right with her directions. The stars all were lost behind a shield of smoke. Suddenly the alley they were in broke off into three separate alleys, each leading in a general westward direction, but she knew only one was the right one. She paused, motioning to Lajjun and Ziza to stop, and tried to get her bearings. Where were they? She glanced at Lajjun, to see if maybe by some slim chance there was some recognition in her eyes, but no such luck. Just as she was about to choose a path, there was a swooping sound and Riddick dropped from the roof above to land in front of her, causing her to let out a small scream before recognizing the face. Breathing heavily, she gave him a dirty look.

"What are you trying to do, give me a heart attack?" She said icily, but she felt relieved that she was no longer the one in charge.

"Just keeping you on your toes…" Riddick said nonchalantly, then proceeded to lead them all in a completely different direction than Alicia had been intending to go.

"Where's Imam?" Came a shaky voice from behind her, and she saw Riddick turn to face Lajjun, who clutched Ziza closer to her instinctively, looking unnerved by the glowing eyes that looked down at her. Although nobody could else could see it probably, Alicia could see sorrow behind his eyes and knew the truth even before he voiced it, quietly.

"He's dead." That was it. Two short words was all the answer he was going to give, Alicia knew it. He turned and continued on, leaving Lajjun and Ziza to cope with their grief while they moved. Turning her head slightly, Alicia could see Lajjun weeping silently as she held tightly to Ziza's hand. Alicia was startled to find that she was crying too, not even feeling the tears trickling down her cheeks. Her grounding rock was gone and her world had turned to complete chaos. She felt like a child that was lost in a world of adults, no idea where to go or what to do, relying completely on the 'adult' that was leading her.

By the time they finally reached 'home', Ziza was asleep in Alicia's arms, and Lajjun was beginning to stumble from weariness. Although Lajjun had tried bravely to carry Ziza herself, Alicia had gently taken the child from her, knowing that the mother was in no shape for it. Alicia, ashamed as she was to say it, had been neglecting her fitness and she was breathing heavily, stumbling from the extra weight she was carrying. Riddick didn't seem to notice, or even care. He hadn't slowed his pace once.

Alicia deposited Ziza in her bed, pulling the covers over her so that she wouldn't catch cold, then retreated downstairs. As she passed Lajjun's room, she could hear quiet weeping from within, the sorrow of lost love weighing heavily on the sobs. Wiping at her eyes, Alicia descended the stairs and then sat herself at the table, holding her head in her hands, taking a deep, shaky breath. Riddick wasn't around. For all she knew, he had disappeared again. Suddenly her breath turned into a sob, and then she was crying. Crying for Imam, for his orphaned family, and just for her life, lost in this chaos.

"I thought you made me a promise…don't tell me you've forgotten it?" Hardly even startled, she chuckled lightly through the tears, lifting her head and looking over at Riddick who was half-hidden in shadows across the room.

"Yeah, I remember. 'Promise you won't ever cry again'. What a load of bullshit." Alicia's voice held a lot of bite, despite being hoarse with tears. "I thought you cared about me…thought you lov -…liked me." Alicia had stopped herself, but she could tell Riddick knew what she was going to say. There was just the slightest shift in his stance and he glanced away. She shook her head and turned away, looking out the window, even though you couldn't see anything. There was a long pause, and she assumed he had left until he sighed heavily.

"I do." With a startled gasp, she turned, but he was gone, vanished into the dark.

**Yay end Chapter 1! Finally. This took me a very long time to feel like it was right and it still feels a little iffy near the end. But I decided I'd made you guys wait long enough. Okay, a few things to say: 1. I don't know how often I'll be updating…I'm very busy and I don't always have time to write.  
2. To all those who said that Alicia should be in Crematoria with Jack, well…I decided to go a different way.  
3. Reviews are ALWAYS appreciated.  
4. Well actually that's it. Enjoy the story everyone!**


	2. Convicts

Chapter 2

Morning came hesitantly to the destroyed city. The sun peered cautiously over the horizon, as if to ensure that the fighting had indeed stopped, before it rose over the buildings, giving harsh detail to a waking nightmare. Alicia had dropped her head to the table, her cheeks resting on her arms, eyelids fluttering slightly as the morning sunlight slid through the window. Groaning slightly, she sat up, rubbing at her eyes to clear them, blinking around the bright kitchen. What had only less than twenty fours ago been organized and meticulously clean was now in complete disorder. The window was almost completely broken in, leaving shards of glass littering the floor, gleaming dangerously in the sunlight. The force of the explosions had knocked plates and cups out of cupboards, shattering them on the ground, and dust and debris littered the entire kitchen. Standing, Alicia stretched out sore muscles from the night before and wandered into the main hall, where the door was broken in, the cool morning breeze blowing through. Moving forward to close the door, she looked out across the city, resting her arm against the doorframe.

The city had fallen in the night. Smoke still rose into the sky from fires left unattended and she could hear marching in the distance. Hundreds of lives destroyed in a less than a day, leaving a dead city behind. As she turned to the return to the house, she suddenly caught sight of a note attached to the door with a shiv, it's contents hastily scrawled. It was addressed to her. Pulling the note out with a tearing sound, she read it quietly. It was short, and to the point.

_  
Don't follow me._

There was no name at the bottom, but it was obviously from Riddick. Frowning out the door, as if she thought she was going to catch sight of him, she crumpled up the note and exited the house, pulling the door closed behind her. After a moment's pause, she yanked the shiv out of the door, holding it tightly in her palm. Then she began walking, towards where the main noise was coming from.

"If that jack-ass thinks he can order me around, he's got another thing coming…" She muttered darkly to herself, sticking the shiv next to her pistol in her pocket, walking carefully to make sure it didn't stick her.

It didn't take long before one of the patrolling troops found her and led her roughly to the main city hall, where hundreds of other survivors were being gathered. Pulling her arm free and giving the uncaring soldier a dirty look, she pulled up her hood and dissolved quietly into the throng of people. She gazed at those around her, seeing matted blood and dirty faces. Most people were scared, others looked angry and still others looked resigned. She had only one person in mind that she needed to find, knowing that here was where he would be. She wasn't sure how she knew that, but she had a feeling that if there was anything Riddick would want, it was revenge for Imam's death. A soldier had killed him, and the soldiers were here. It made sense. Sort of.

Before she could find him, a very pale, blonde man in the middle of the room began to speak loudly to his unwilling audience. A metal spine extended up the back of his uniform up all the way across his scalp, and his uniform was decidedly nondescript. He was not a soldier, this was obvious. He began to speak of converting and something called a Necromonger faith, and it didn't take long before somebody dared speak up. She watched the two brave souls stand tall, saying how there would be no conversions. Although she admired their bravery, she felt it was a fight that they would lose. Losing interest in the happenings around her, she continued her search for Riddick around the crowded room, beginning to fear that her assumption had been wrong. If he wasn't here, that meant she had put herself in unnecessary danger. Perhaps she should have just listened to Riddick for once…

Her attention was immediately drawn back to the center of the room as everybody gasped. A tall, fierce looking man was standing just in front of one of the men who had been protesting. In his hand was a silvery reflection of the man, limp and wispy. It groaned and rippled like a piece of paper in a breeze, then disappeared as the man threw it towards the ground. The man in front of him crumpled to the ground, staring lifelessly up at the ceiling. Mouth falling slightly open, she backed slightly away, towards the back of the room, only to have both of her arms grabbed from behind. Squirming, she tried to pull away, but turned around to find familiar looking goggles glaring down at her. Gasping, she stared up at him with guilty eyes, like a child who had just been caught knee-deep in the mud in their best clothes. Before either of them could say anything, he pulled her beside him and released her. Towards the front of the room, the man who was obviously the commander of the entire army was speaking. He wore elaborate armor, with chain mail and a large helmet in his arms. His eyes were fierce and uncaring, looking over the audience with terrifying indifference.

"Join me! Or join him…" He motioned down to the dead man at his feet. Unsettled, the survivors looked around at each other and then, slowly, began to go to their knees, bowing to him. Converting. Gasping, she drew back, and then started to kneel, out of self-preservation more than anything else, but Riddick grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her to her feet, holding her there. But still, he said nothing. As everybody else bowed, the attention in the room came quickly to them, the only ones still standing.

A guard walked towards them, taking off his helmet to reveal dark features. His jet black hair was cropped close to his head, with a longer piece extending down his neck. His eyes looked down at her and immediately she felt terrified, despite her best efforts. His eyes were cold and cruel, dark and empty as they looked down at her. Taking a harsh breath in, she felt Riddick's grip on the back of her cape tighten.

"This is your one chance. Take the Lord Marshall's offer and bow." He gestured towards the front of the room as he glared at both of them. Alicia looked up at Riddick, hoping he had a plan of some sort, because at this point she was certainly ready to bow if it meant not having her soul ripped out. Riddick, however, still had a grip on the back of her neck, plus he was watching the guard in front of him. Finally, he spoke.

"I bow to no man."

"He is not a man." The guard said, dropping his gaze to her, as if daring her to move. Taking a deep breath, she looked right back into his eyes, defying her true fear. "He is the holy Half-Dead who has seen the Underverse." This apparently was supposed to mean something to them, but she was clueless.

"Look, we're not with everyone else here." Riddick said, finally releasing his grip on her, but she didn't kneel. She stood tall, her hands clenched together in front of her, looking nervously at Riddick, not sure what he was planning. "But…I will take a piece of him." Riddick pointed across the room to a huge guard with a knife in his back, who turned and pulled his two giant hatchets into his hands, starting across the room menacingly. The first guard looked at Riddick with a somewhat amused look, then moved out of the way.

"A piece you shall have."

As soon as Riddick had moved away to fight, the guards nearest her had grabbed her arms from behind, squeezing painfully. Their fingers dug into her arms unrelentingly as they watched the fight to the death that was about to take place in front of them. _Oh God please don't die…then what are they going to do to me…_ She thought to herself, closing her eyes briefly and taking a deep breath. She opened her eyes and watched as suddenly the fight started. Within all the whirling bodies and flailing hatchets, it was hard to see who was making contact with who. And, just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Riddick had the knife from the guard's back stuck in to the guard's stomach. He gave one last twist and then pushed the guard backwards. The guard rolled down the steps and came to a rest on his back, the knife protruding upwards.

Alicia let out a breath that she hadn't even realized she'd been holding. She began chiding herself for being afraid…this was Riddick. When had she ever not had faith in him? She began to pull away only to be held back, and she watched as Riddick was suddenly stopped. The large man…the 'Lord Marshall' as he had been identified as, had pulled the blade out of the dead man's body.

"Irgun…one of my best." Riddick glanced down at the man and gave the Lord Marshall a skeptical look, then shrugged.

"If you say so." Alicia might have laughed at that, had the situation been less tense, and she glanced around, catching sight of a very slim woman across the hall who was looking at her. She was dressed in a dark golden crocodile-skin dress that hugged every curve as if she had been poured into it. She was beautiful. Her olive skin was immaculate, her hair pulled back severely. Her eyes were made-up to look dark and foreboding as she looked icily across the room and looked Alicia up and down, looking at the ragged and dirty pants, the loose shirt, the cape, the dirty hair and face. She could see the contempt in her eyes. Alicia looked away, feeling that much smaller in a world full of a big people. During that moment, Riddick and the Lord Marshall had exchanged more words, and Riddick had done some complicated movement with the knife. Now, suddenly, people were surrounding him, and he was looking around, obviously evaluating who he was going to kill first.

"Perhaps the breeders would do it…if somebody just asked them." The beautiful woman from across the hall had come forward and pushed her way through the throng of guards, moving seductively past Riddick. Alicia watched Riddick inhale her scent and follow her with his head. "It's a rare offer. A visit inside the Necropolis."

"Mmm…it's been a long time since I smelled beautiful…" Alicia felt as if somebody had just shoved a shiv through her stomach, and she felt the breath go out of her for a moment. Glaring across the group of people, she pulled her arms free of the guard and pushed across, standing next to Riddick possessively, who glanced down at her briefly, then back at the woman.

"Let me show you the way…" She whispered, and then slunk off. Riddick followed without hesitation, and, seeing as she had little choice, Alicia followed along behind. They walked across a long field, lined on each side by huge ships, all of which were topped with terrifying faces that leered down at them as they walked. Alicia felt like they were going to drop down and crush them at a moment's notice. She was beginning to understand the perspective of a bug. It wasn't long before they were entering the largest vessel that sat at the end of the row, the head of the fleet. Just inside, flanking the entranceway, were two huge statues, each depicting men engaged in torturing themselves. Alicia felt goosebumps rising on her arms, but it wasn't because of cold. She couldn't explain it, but the ship itself was putting her on edge. The larger than life statues, the unfeeling metal, the olive-skinned woman who kept glancing back at her as if to gloat over her how easily she had pulled Riddick away. All Alicia knew was that she wanted out of this ship as soon as possible. She watched Riddick pull off his goggles so that he could get a better look, revealing his mesmerizing silver eyes.

"Beautiful eyes…" The woman said, sliding her hand under Riddick's chin seductively, turning his head to look him straight in the eyes. "The last six Lord Marshalls have called this home. Magnificent, isn't it?" Feeling a flare inside her that was a mixture of jealousy and sadness, Alicia turned her eyes away, and gasped as she caught sight of a long row of people, hanging limply as if in suspended animation, staring blankly ahead. Two prods on either side were digging into their necks.

"Converts receiving the mark of the Necromonger." Alicia jumped as the voice came from immediately over her left shoulder. The man who had originally been speaking was behind her, staring down at her with steely blue eyes, calm and unconcerned. "They learn how one pain can lessen another." Alicia shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, forcing herself to turn her eyes away, still following after like a lost puppy straying behind it's owner. By this point, they were far within the Necropolis, which was really more of a palace than a ship, and the women had slunk within a door. Riddick was still following without question, and although she backed away, she was 'guided' in to the room as well. The women came forward and rearranged them so that they could both fit on the little platform they were standing on.

"Now there…that is just perfect." She said, then walked away. She turned her head, smirking at Alicia just as she exited the doorway. "The more you resist them…the greater the damage will be." With that, both the doors closed with a thud. Alicia immediately jumped off the platform and tried to push the door open again, but there was nothing to indicate she had even budged the giant door.

"New ones…" Alicia jumped and turned, her back to the door, her eyes darting around the small room. Instinctively, she pulled out her pistol, her finger loose on the trigger. The voice had been wispy, almost ethereal, as if it hadn't even really existed. Riddick had drawn his shiv and was looking around, the same as her. She moved back over to him, stepping on to the platform carefully. Strength in numbers, for the time being. Suddenly, both her pistol and Riddick's shiv fell to the ground. Instead of clattering, they just stuck there as if held down by an unseen force. Before Alicia had a chance to lean down to retrieve it, a force unlike any she'd ever felt suddenly slammed upon her back, knocking her to the ground. It was as if the weight of an entire army was on her back as she struggled to pull against the force. Next to her, Riddick was on his hands and knees, grunting as he pushed against the overwhelming pressure.

Overtop of their painful groans, the whispery voices had began speaking again. "Scanning the female…entering neocortex…scanning recent thoughts…thoughts of Riddick…" Alicia could just hear the re-enactment of the scene in the kitchen the night before overtop of the horrible whining in her ears. _Dammit..stupid machines…_ "Human energy. Entry closed. Scanning the male…" Alicia could see her field of vision dimming at the edges. She could hardly breathe because of the pull against her, probably magnified because Riddick was still pulling against it. Well perhaps he could stand it, but it was literally killing her.

"Riddick!" She managed to gasp out, her voice desperate as she managed to move her eyes to look at him pleadingly. _Help me…_

"Scanning recent thoughts…" The voices went on uncaringly. "Thoughts of someone called Jack…_Riddick!_ Thoughts of the female…" By this point, Alicia couldn't hear any of it over the whining and the pressure in her head, and she dropped her head against the platform, taking short shallow breathes, waiting, hoping it would be over soon. The whispery voices suddenly erupted into high-pitched screeching, as the bowls of water splintered and exploded, sending water and shards everywhere. It took Alicia a moment to make out what they were saying.

"Kill the Riddick!" _Great, as if Riddick didn't already have enough people trying to kill him…_Alicia thought to herself. Suddenly, as quickly as the pressure had come, it was gone, and she lay gasping for a moment before grabbing her pistol and pulling herself painfully to her feet, holding the pistol in her hands loosely. She was slumped over, sweating, and out of breath. And there was entire army leaping into the small room to try and kill them both. Wonderful. Aiming the pistol, she shot wildly at the guards closest to her. Most of the bullets bounced harmlessly off their armor, and most of them weren't even concerned with her. They were focussed on Riddick. One of them grabbed her from behind, around her neck, choking her as he pulled upwards. Struggling, she managed to find purchase on the ground, and transferred her weight, managing to loosen the guard's grip on her neck somewhat, enough to pull a ragged breath. Yanking her shiv out of her back pocket, she shoved it backwards into the gut of the guard and twisted. The grip on her neck fell away as the guard fell behind her.

Riddick had acquired an energy gun which had cleared most of the guards from the room, and he had leaped on to the top of the squirming bodies which were moving back into the wall. He turned, and the locked eyes with Alicia, who was all the way across the room. He extended the hand that wasn't holding the gun towards her, palm up. There was no other way out. Sheathing her shiv, she flung herself across the room, pushing off of dead bodies, and grabbed Riddick's hand, letting him pull her through the hole just before it closed up. Gasping, he didn't give her even a moment's rest before he pulled her through corridors and around corners, shooting at guards that he came across.

She didn't even remember how they got outside the Necropolis, but suddenly they were running across dust and dirt instead of hard metal. Riddick was still clenching her hand with such force that it ground her bones together painfully, but the security that she was not going to be left behind made her more than willing to endure the pain. She twisted her head to look behind, and watched as a huge ship gained on them from behind. They may be able to take out some guards on their own, even without the energy gun, which had been abandoned at some point along this twisted and desperate path they were taking. A ship, however, was a whole new enemy. They were doomed.

Suddenly a loud explosion blasted through the air around them, and Riddick's pace increased as the ship suddenly came teetering in a crash course towards them, and she was certain that at any moment they would be crushed beneath it's flaming carcass. She couldn't keep up, and she stumbled and fell to her knees. Before she could right herself, Riddick had flung his arms around her waist and hoisted her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and kept going as if he nothing had changed, in fact he might have been going faster. With her head now over his shoulder, she was able to watch with a terrifying clarity as the ship hurtled towards them, unstoppable, potentially unavoidable. The head ground into the ground and suddenly, instead of falling towards them, it lifted off again like a skipping stone.

"Riddick, stop!" She shrieked and, surprisingly, he stopped, skidding forward. He dropped to his hands and knees, bringing her down with him and sheltered her from the dust and debris, cradling her almost like a child with her head against his chest. Once the air had stopped whipping around them, Riddick put her down and straightened, surveying the wreckage in front of them. Alicia put her feet on the ground and slowly stood up, then turned her head slightly as she heard sound behind them. She gasped and turned around fully, pulling out her shiv instinctively. Behind them were five people, men and women, who were all hooded darkly. They all held guns, except one who held a plasma cannon, which was probably how they had taken down the ship.

"Let me guess…a five man crew this time?" Riddick said sardonically, still not turning around. Alicia glanced back at him, then back at the gun-toting group. One of them came forward and pulled off his hood, revealing bushy brown side-burns, time-hardened eyes and a muscular body. He was somebody who was obviously accustomed to fighting, he had scars on him all over him. He seemed to look perpetually fed up with everything.

"Couple of things you could have done better…" He started, ignoring Alicia completely as he walked towards Riddick, who still had his back turned to him. "One, trash the locator beacon in my ship, you know, the one you jacked? Second…and this is the really important part…dust my dick when you had the chance. Any questions?" He finally turned his attention to Alicia, giving her another once-over and grinning slightly, reminding her coldly of a much different man she had met five years ago. Another merc, like this one.

"Just one…" Riddick said, then finally turned around to face the man. He raised his hands up slightly and gave him a sarcastic half-smile. "What took you so long?" Alicia gave Riddick one of those 'you're kidding, right?' looks as she looked between him and Riddick and back again. The man smirked, then turned his attention back to Alicia.

"Take him…now, what about you, sweetheart, who are you and what are you doing hanging around with a merc-killing convict?" She turned her eyes briefly towards Riddick who had just been knocked out by a flying net and was being bundled towards a ship. When she looked back at the man, he was looking at her suspiciously, squinting his eyes slightly. "You know, you look mighty familiar…"

"I'm sure you're imagining it…" She said quickly, tightening her grip on the shiv that was still in her hand. The man glanced down at it and back up at her and took a small step back, still looking her over and called to one of the men who was helping load up Riddick.

"Hey…come here…don't she look familiar to you?" The man turned his head and as soon as he did, Alicia took the opportunity and bolted back the way she had came. She didn't get more than ten steps before she felt a searing pain in her back and she fell to the ground with a loud thud. Through the stars that were sparkling at the edge of her vision, she saw the bushy-haired man above her again. "Nice try, sweetheart. But you're not going nowhere. Bundle her up with Riddick. I think she's got something to hide."

With those words, Alicia was hoisted unwillingly into the ship and strapped up, her arms painfully extended and chained. Looking down at the ground, she forced herself to take deep breaths, not making eye contact with anybody. The man and his crew were busy getting ready for take-off and she watched out of the corner of her eye as the captain called up faces on his computer screen. Faces with numbers below them, dollar amounts that corresponded to them. They were all women and she saw him pause on one, examining it closely. She saw with a sickening feeling in her stomach that the photo was her own, with it's own modest reward beneath it. She heard a chuckle come from him as he turned and walked back over to her, and she continued to stare at the floor.

"Well well well…so you do have something to hide, little miss Alicia Terries." She heard him reach down to take her face in his hand, to force her to look up at him, but he was interrupted by a voice across the small ship.

"Don't touch her, Toombs." Riddick was awake, though he was staring down at the floor, same as her and it was only now that he lifted his head to look at Toombs, who looked almost amused at this turn of events. Riddick smirked slightly at him. "It's just that the last merc who touched her ended up without a foot and a bullet through his heart. Just thought I'd warn you." Toombs looked down at Alicia with a raised eyebrow, who glanced up briefly, then back down at the floor.

"Hmm…so Riddick does have a soft spot." She heard Riddick shift in his corner, obviously not happy with that exact turn of phrase. Toombs laughed slightly, then leaned down and put his hand under her chin, forcing her head up to look at him and she heard chains clinking as Riddick sat up straighter. "Well sweetheart…your little protector over there, is in no position to protect you right now. So you better be able to watch your own ass…literally." He let her go, letting his hand slide down her neck and dangerously close to her chest before standing and returning to the front of the ship.

Alicia lifted her head just in time to watch Helion Prime disappearing quickly behind them. Her home of five years was now no more than a quickly disappearing spot of light. Glancing behind her, she saw Riddick watching her and although she couldn't see his eyes, she thought she could sense a vague sensation of apology. As if he was sorry that she had to be here. After maintaining eye contact for a moment, she let her eyes drop back to the floor.


	3. Nightmare

Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey all! Sorry I totally forgot to put author's notes in my last update, haha I'm dumb. Anyway, very sorry for the superbly late update last time, I forgot to mention to you guys that I was going away for a month in July so there was no updating to be done…and then I got writer's block and then it was just bad things all around. But the important part is, some of you stuck with me nonetheless and I thank you for that. So without further ado, let us continue!**

"So. Where do we drop your merc-killing ass, huh?" Toombs wasn't paying any attention to Alicia anymore, who had her eyes trained on a particularly interesting point on the floor as she pondered her current situation. "Butcher Bay?" Out of the corner of her mind, she heard Riddick chuckle slightly, obviously amused.

"Ah Butcher Bay…ten minutes every other day on the dog run. Protein waffles ain't bad." He sounded like he was talking about a luxury hotel, but Alicia could feel her heart pounding in her throat. She knew that wherever they decided to drop Riddick off, it would probably be where they dropped her off as well. Or at least she hoped so. Separated from Riddick and left alone with these mercs was a worse nightmare than any slam she could think of. As her thoughts whirred out of control, she vaguely heard Toombs and his crew discussing a double-max slam, and she came back into focus just in time to catch the tail end of something Toombs was saying.

"Maybe we should think of upping our game here…think about someplace truly diabolical." He looked like he was just a little too pleased with himself and without thinking Alicia cut across him smoothly.

"Ooh diabolical. Big word. Did your mommy teach that to you?" She said sarcastically, lifting her eyes and giving a sly smirk across the ship at him, not sure where she had found the guts. Perhaps it was just the knowledge that things could hardly get much worse at this point. She maintained eye contact as Toombs strolled across the ship to her, looking down at her with a sneer on his face. He dropped to a squat so that his face was level with hers and he looked seriously into her eyes and she didn't flinch or blink.

"You better watch yourself sweetheart…wouldn't let that mouth of yours run too free. Especially not where you're going…that'll just get you killed. And Riddick can't be around to protect you all the time." He stood up again and turned back to his crew, but Alicia continued to watch his back. Perhaps she'd imagined it, but she had almost heard a sincere note of warning in his voice. Perhaps he realized that she was nothing but an almost innocent bystander in this entire scheme of things. Maybe. Doubtful though.

"So where are we going Toombs?" Obviously Toombs's crew didn't know any more than her or Riddick at the moment about where they were going, but before Toombs could answer, Riddick cut across, speaking with an authority that immediately commanded silence as they listened to him.

"He's thinking a triple-max prison…no-daylight slam…" No daylight? That may be just fine for Riddick, but for Alicia that was a big problem, but Riddick continued on. "Only three of them left in this system…two of them out of reach for a shitty little undercutter like this one with no legs. Leaving just…one."

Alicia looked up at Toombs, who was shifting uncomfortably, telling her that Riddick had it completely right, and he didn't like it. The rest of the crew were also looking at each other uneasily, and she wondered if Toombs had told them exactly what they were getting into when they'd signed up for this crew. She looked back at Riddick, who had met her eyes and didn't drop them as he finally uttered their destination.

"Crematoria."

Although Alicia wasn't exactly well read on the various slams of the universe, she had heard of this one. The planet where it was so hot during the day that it would cremate you on the spot, and so cold at night that you'd freeze solid. The prison was kept below the surface, but there was no chance of escape. Not in this place. She felt her heart sink into the pit of her stomach. They were doomed. The only shred of hope was that she knew that Jack had been there…at least once…she might still be there. No idea. At least there'd be a familiar face to look at while her life crumbled away before her eyes.

Riddick had it in mind to unsettle the crew, she could tell by the way he spoke casually of what happened to the last crew. Alicia didn't even know what had happened to the last crew Toombs had sent out after Riddick, but at the same time, it felt like it would be prudent not to ask. She didn't really care, honestly. She was more concerned with what was going to happen to her. Toombs didn't seem at all phased as he came back to look at Riddick, a grin on his face.

"You know…you're supposed to be some slick-shit killer…and now look at you…all back-of-the-bus and shit." Riddick didn't reply and she watched Toombs grin and stroll back to the front of the ship and strap himself in. One by one, all the crew sat down and drifted off to sleep. She watched Riddick, who appeared to be asleep himself. She shifted, trying to get herself as comfortable as was possible in the confining chains, but no matter how she twisted her body or shifted her arms in the chains, there was always something poking her somewhere. With a sigh, she settled down as well as she could and closed her eyes. Silence filled the ship.

"You shouldn't have come." Alicia glanced at Riddick, who wasn't looking at her for once. His head was directed down towards the floor. "If you had just stayed behind…" He didn't finish his sentence, but she saw his fists clench in the chains, as if around her neck.

"It was my choice. Not yours. You should have told me what you were doing." Alicia said icily, feeling distinctly like an unwanted burden, rather than a real person with flesh, blood and feelings. She turned and looked straight at him. "Whether you like it or not, we are stuck together until we get out of this. Two people are better than one alone. We can work together, look out for each other…I mean, you can escape this slam, can't you?" The long silence that answered the question was a lot less than comforting.

Suddenly there was shifting near the front of the ship and she watched as Toombs sat up and undid his harness. She sat straight, watching him carefully as he stood up and came towards her. He looked her over, his eyes sliding across her helpless form, stuck in its position like a marionette that had lost its strings. She felt her heart start pumping wildly in her chest as she remembered the last merc who had given her a look like that. Instinctively she pressed her body backwards, but there was nowhere for her to go, and even if she could get free of these chains, the ship was too small to escape him forever. He took a step towards her and her breath caught in her throat. He reached out, his hands moving to her wrists, but before she could even begin to factor up a resistance, she felt the harsh pull on her wrists slacken as the chains clinked open. As he pulled back and leaned down to her ankles, she glanced over at Riddick and was surprised to see him tensed against his chains, veins visible in his arms, eyes trained on Toombs. As Toombs pulled back, leaving Alicia unharmed, she watched Riddick relax slightly. Alicia pulled her attention back to Toombs, watching him warily. He had undone her ankles as well, so that nothing was holding her in place.

"What are you doing?" She asked finally, and Toombs shrugged as he straightened and headed back towards the front casually, taking a seat in the pilot's chair, swiveling to watch her. "Why are you unchaining me?"

"You looked uncomfortable…just giving you a chance to stretch your legs." He said with a cheesy grin, leaning his chin on his hand as she slowly stood up, still watching him suspiciously. He chuckled slightly, stretching out his own arms. "Don't flatter yourself, sweetheart. I don't fuck my paychecks…not even the pretty ones. Not my style." He shifted, putting his arms behind his head as he continued to watch her. She straightened and stretched out her cramped muscles gratefully, hearing her joints cracking. She glanced at Riddick but he had resumed his 'sleep'. Whether he was really sleeping or not was impossible to tell behind those goggles.

"You know…there's one thing about you I don't get." Toombs said and she turned to him, crossing her arms, staying well away from him. Just in case. "I mean…you're about as tough as my grandmother. How the hell you'd get mixed up with a tough guy like Riddick?" Giving him a slightly offended look, Alicia shrugged, glancing back at Riddick again, watching in her mind as the same figure staggered down her streets, years and light-years ago.

"Well…you could say that we…crashed into it." She said, remembering the horrific crash that had led to their unwilling teamwork and eventual relationship. If you could even call it a relationship. Now…she didn't know what they were. She was afraid of the answer she would get if she ever dared ask. "Why do you even care? We're just a paycheck to you, right?" She said, but it didn't have the bitter sting to it that she had expected. It was more of a defeated, resigned tone. He frowned slightly, his forehead creasing as he looked at her, her arms crossed across herself, turned slightly away from him. She could see the pity in his eyes, and she hated it.

"Hmm…well darling if you want to have any hope of surviving Crematoria, I suggest you approach it on a full night's sleep." He stood up and yawned, then gestured to the seat he had just vacated. Then he took his own seat and strapped himself in, leaving her standing in the middle of the ship. "Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite."

"Wait, you're not going to chain me back up?" Alicia said in disbelief, looking at Toombs, who cracked open one eye and shrugged nonchalantly, chuckling slightly.

"Like I said, doll…you're about as tough as my grandmother. Now why would I subject such a pretty doll to uncomfortable chains when I don't have to? Now go to sleep." With that, he closed his eyes and within five minutes had drifted off to sleep. Alicia stood silently in the middle of the ship until the heart monitor above Toombs showed that he had entered a deep sleep, then settled down cautiously on the seat he had vacated. She felt a sudden shiver pass through her and she wrapped her arms around herself, staring at Toombs' sleeping form, stunned at the kindness he had shown. All that she thought she had known for sure about mercs and their evil natures and how they took advantage of pretty girls whenever they had the chance…all of that had been wrong.

"Hey 'doll'…there's a shiv in my left shoe, just on the inside. Grab it and let's get out of here." Alicia turned to Riddick, who was looking at her expectantly. "Come on…" Standing up, she crossed over and stuck her hand inside his shoe, fishing around slightly before she 'found' the shiv by stabbing her hand with it. Swearing to herself, she withdrew the shiv, blood from her hand flowing to stain the blade an eerie red. Sticking her hand into her mouth to try and stop the bleeding, she held the shiv and looked at Riddick again, unsure what he was expecting her to do with this.

"Go on, go ghost their asses…their throats." Alicia stared at him blankly for a moment, then down at the shiv in her hand, then looked back towards where Toombs was sleeping peacefully. She could taste blood in her mouth, the tangy smell filling her nostrils as she contemplated what she was being asked to do. After a moment, she walked forward, pulling the shiv out with shaking hands and placing it against Toombs neck carefully. She felt him twitch slightly in his sleep and shift a little, but otherwise he remained oblivious to the danger he was in. She could barely hold the blade steady as she took a deep breath, steadying herself for what she was about to do. Her eyes caught sight of his eyelid twitching slightly, and she wondered vaguely what he was dreaming about. Were his dreams trying to warn him of the danger he was in? Would his dreams dissolve when she pulled that blade across his throat? Her right hand was still bleeding slightly from the wound the shiv had inflicted and she wiped it on her pants briefly before replacing it on the blade's handle. She could feel her hands becoming slippery with sweat and she felt another cold shiver run through her. She felt Toombs pulse against the blade, which she was about to sever. Her hands started shaking uncontrollably as she remembered the kindness Toombs had shown her, and then she took another deep breath. She couldn't do it.

She tried to picture Johns face instead of Toombs, but even with Johns face in mind, there was still a vein pulsing in Toombs neck, the barrier between what she was and what she was becoming. A convict. With a horrible shaking breath, she pulled back, stumbling a few steps backwards, staring down at Toombs who was still sleeping obliviously.

"I can't do it." She whispered hoarsely, turning away, her arms wrapped around herself, unbidden tears sliding down her face that she brushed away impatiently. Her mind and body was repulsed by what she had almost done and she could barely stand, she was shaking so hard. "I can't do it."

"It's easy. Just put some pressure down and pull across. One quick motion." Riddick said, shifting in his chair impatiently, obviously waiting for her to get it over with so that he could get loose and get them out of there. "Come on, you just need some practice."

With a fluid motion and quickness that she didn't even know she had, she was suddenly against Riddick, the shiv pressed against his throat, her breath coming fast, staring into his eyes ferociously.

"Oh yeah? Practice huh? Then maybe I should slit your throat first…how does it feel, Riddick? To be on the other end of the blade?" She whispered the words, her voice icy cold as she pushed the blade against his throat, watching with morbid fascination as pinpricks of blood rose to the surface. "Oh look. You're bleeding. Funny, I thought someone without a heart wouldn't bleed." Riddick's emotions were unreadable behind his goggles and with a frustrated sound, she ripped the goggles off his head, throwing them to the other end of the ship, oblivious to how his eyes squinted in pain against the light that must have been blinding to him. Before she could even think about what to do next, he suddenly lunged against his chains and she fell backwards, the shiv clattering across the ship's floor towards the front. She stared up, terror replacing the cold fury in her veins as she watched Riddick staring down at her. Despite what she had thought, he was still tightly connected to the wall by the chains, but it wasn't for lack of trying. His expression was one of cold anger, and she instinctively crawled backwards another few steps, her heart pounding in her chest. After a few moments, Riddick relaxed, his arms settling back, his expression softening from anger to cold indifference.

"You're just the little kid you were when I met you. I should have known you wouldn't have the guts to actually kill anybody. And I have no use for somebody like that." Riddick said coldly, turning away from her, his eyes closed to block out the painful light. She took a few ragged breaths, looking at Riddick, her heart beating painfully in her chest as his words stabbed into it. She could see on his neck a thin red line where her hands had brought forth blood and she felt sick from the sight of it. She had hurt him, the man who had done nothing but protect her all these years…but he had wanted her to kill in his name. Take somebody's life after they had shown her nothing but kindness. She had crossed many boundaries in the last five years. She had killed in her own defense, she had become tougher, she had become independent…she had loved and she had lost, but most importantly she had survived, by any means necessary. She was frightened sometimes by what she felt willing to do when it came to her own survival, but killing for the sake of killing was a boundary that she was not willing to cross. Not yet. Hopefully not ever.

Alicia slowly got to her feet, picking up the shiv from where it had fallen to the floor and tucking it carefully out of sight in her pocket. She walked across the ship, picking up the goggles from the ground carefully. She held them carefully in her hands, like they were the most precious thing in the world. To Riddick, they were. Cautiously, she walked across the ship and stood in front of him, swallowing past the lump in her throat, the silence feeling like a heavy weight on her shoulders. She leaned down, pulling the goggles, trying to fit it over his head so that she could replace them on his eyes. Expecting him to snap at her, she was tense as she carefully pulled the goggles over his eyes, and then backed away, taking her seat with her back to him, tears staining her cheeks unwillingly. She realized that even in the five years that he had been gone, she had always felt his presence around her, his voice in her head, watching over her. Now, even with him less than five feet behind her, she felt completely and utterly alone.

It was a long time before she fell asleep, and even then her sleep was restless, uneasy. Her dreams were plagued with nightmares of the planet, but this time there was no Riddick there to save her. She rolled out of the chair with a thud, which knocked her awake and she gasped, looking around her wildly for a moment before she registered where she was. Swallowing and taking a deep breath, she stood, staring back at Riddick, who still had his eyes averted from her. Looking down, she took a seat again, glancing at the computer, which told her still a few hours before they arrived at their destination.

"You still have nightmares?" Riddick said suddenly, and if she hadn't been the only one awake in the craft, she would have thought he was talking to somebody else. She turned her head slightly, looking at him sideways, as if deciding if he was really talking to her, then nodded, turning away again.

"Almost every night…" She said quietly, wrapping her arms around herself instinctively. "I see their faces…Shazza…Zeke…Carolyn…" She heard him shift slightly at the mention of Carolyn's name, and she knew he was remembering her last moments just as she was. How they could have done something…how maybe if they had reacted faster, she would have survived. The guilt dropped in her stomach like a dead weight, and she swallowed cautiously before continuing.

"They call out for help, but I can't find them, because it's dark and all I've got is a torch made out of the alcohol bottles. Then…then I hear them cry out and I hear…those things. I hear them, all around me." She wasn't sure why she was telling him all of this. Why she felt he had to hear it, especially after he had already basically told her that she was worthless to him. Why should he care what she dreamt about? Against her will, she felt the tears prickling the back of her eyes and she was horrified to hear her voice cracking as she kept going. "Then the rain starts…and the torch starts to go out…and I'm all alone. I don't know how I know, but I always know, in the dream, that I'm all alone…that there's nobody to save me…and then the torch goes out and I hear them coming nearer and I scream…and then I wake up. Usually because by that point I've rolled out of bed on to the floor." She swallowed and looked out into the dark reaches of space, not really expecting a response from Riddick anyway.

"You aren't alone." Alicia turned to look at Riddick, who wasn't looking at her. If she hadn't heard it so clearly, she would have thought that she had imagined it. What did he mean? Did he have the nightmares too, or was he just trying to comfort her by telling her that the dreams weren't real? She couldn't tell, but she wasn't surprised that she didn't hear anything else out of him for the rest of the trip. Turning in her seat, she drifted off to sleep, but this time it was a peaceful, dreamless sleep that lasted until the computers started screaming at her that they had arrived. Crematoria.

**A/N: Sorry guys I know it's shorter than usual, but I'm having severe writer's block. As it is, I'm not sure I'm completely happy with this chapter...what do you think? Confusing? Bad? Let me know! Thanks to ALL my reviewers, you guys are wonderful. Update will be soon I hope!**


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